Franco/Strathairn/Hamm

Franco/Strathairn/Hamm

Ws

R

DVD-STANDARD

UPC: 896602002265

Release Date: 1/4/2011

$14.99
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James Franco gives a career-defining performance as the young Allen Ginsbergâ€"poet, counter-culture adventurer, and chronicler of the Beat Generationâ€"in HOWL, the audacious film from Academy AwardÂ®-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Franco as Ginsberg recounts the road trips, love affairs, and search for personal liberation that led to the most timeless, electrifying, and controversial work of his career: Howl. Pushing the limits and challenging the mainstream, the passionate and provocative Howl and its publisher found themselves on trial for obscenity, with prosecutor Ralph McIntosh (David Strathairn) setting out to have the book banned, while defense attorney Jake Ehrlich (Jon Hamm) fervently argues for freedom of speech and creative expression. The proceedings veer from the comically absurd to the passionate as a host of unusual witnesses (Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, Treat Williams, Alessandro Nivola) pit generation against generation and art against fear in front of conservative Judge Clayton Horn (Bob Balaban). BONUS FEATURES: James Franco in conversation with directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman - an all new feature length audio commentary; Holy! Holy! Holy! Making of Howl - featuring directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, stars James Franco, John Hamm, David Strathairn, Treat Williams, Bob Balaban, poet Anne Waldman, and others; Directors' research tapes - original interviews with Ginsberg's friends and collaborators Eric Drooker, Peter Orlovsky, Tuli Kupferberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Steven Taylor; Allen Ginsberg reads Howl - never before seen footage from a performance in 1995 at the Knitting Factory in New York; James Franco reads Howl audio feature.

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Description:

James Franco stars as the young Allen Ginsberg - poet, counter-culture adventurer and chronicler of the Beat Generation. In his famously confessional, leave-nothing-out style, Ginsberg recounts the road trips, love affairs and search for personal liberation that led to the most timeless and electrifying work of his career, the poem HOWL. Meanwhile, in a San Francisco courtroom, HOWL is on trial. Prosecutor Ralph McIntosh (Strathairn) sets out to prove that the book should be banned, while suave defense attorney Jake Ehrlich (Hamm) argues fervently for freedom of speech and creative expression. The proceedings veer from the comically absurd to the passionate as a host of unusual witnesses (Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, Treat Williams, Alesssandro Nivola) pit generation against generation and art against fear in front of conservative Judge Clayton Horn (Bob Balaban).
HOWL is simultaneously a portrait of a renegade artist breaking down barriers to find love and redemption and an imaginative ride through a prophetic masterpiece that rocked a generation and was heard around the world.